The Little Emperor Strikes Back

It was inevitable that I would one day revisit the area of observations. As a manager, they are something that falls within my remit and yet they remain highly problematical for me. It’s that time of year that I am required to barge into my colleagues’ classes and pass judgement upon them. It’s also that time of year -it’s always that time of year- when I have a million and one better things to be doing and I really don’t need to spend my time tying people down to meetings, observations, meetings, report writing and the like.

Yet I do buy into the idea that the manager’s job is largely about ensuring that quality is not only achieved, but maintained and enhanced. A lot of the reactions to observations that are available come from teachers and seem to resent this role of the manager. The demand is that peer observations are just about acceptable but the managers need to keep out of the classrooms. Teachers don’t need to be told what to do or how to do it better. Nobody has the right to judge another. Well…I beg to differ…